Published Mar 8, 2026 · Updated Sep 4, 2026

Melt value is the baseline worth of a piece of gold if it were reduced to raw metal: no design, no brand, just the gold itself. It is the number both buyers and sellers use as a starting point, and it only takes three inputs to work out.

The Melt Value Formula

Melt value = weight in grams × purity × current spot price per gram. Purity is your karat expressed as a decimal, so 14K is 0.585, 18K is 0.75, and so on.

Step-by-Step Example

Say you have a 14K ring that weighs 5.2 grams, and today’s live 24K spot price is $130.36 per gram (updated Oct 28, 2026).

• Step 1: Convert 14K to decimal purity: 0.585
• Step 2: Multiply weight by purity: 5.2 × 0.585 = 3.042 grams of pure gold
• Step 3: Multiply by spot price: 3.042 × $130.36 per gram = $396.56 melt value

Common Mistakes That Skew the Number

• Using a retail or jewelry-store price instead of the live spot price
• Forgetting to subtract the weight of gemstones, which have no gold value
• Mixing up a troy ounce (31.1 grams) with a standard ounce (28.35 grams) when converting units
• Guessing purity from a worn or illegible stamp instead of confirming it

Skip the Manual Math

Our gold melt value calculator runs this same formula automatically against the live spot price, so you just enter weight and purity and get an accurate number instantly.